John Peel leaves his wife £1.5m, oh, and 25,000 records

By Adam Lusher

12:01AM BST 22 Oct 2006

In terms of quantity, it is a record collection to make any music fan drool with envy. Quite how much envy, however, might depend on your fondness for acts such as Anemic Boyfriends, Electro Hippies – playing their tune Mega-Armageddon Death – and Bill Oddie singing On Ilkley Moor Baht 'At.

The details of the veteran DJ John Peel's will, revealed yesterday, have shown that one of Britain's largest, and most eclectic, record collections has been bequeathed to Sheila Ravenscroft, his wife.

She will now have the task of looking after a collection thought to include more than 25,000 vinyl albums and many thousands of CDs.

Precisely what is in the collection remains unknown, but clues are provided by the fact that Peel was famous for championing virtual unknowns, often playing music from the wilder shores of unconventional.

Some, such as Pink Floyd, Jimi Hendrix, Tim Buckley, Joy Division, Blur and Pulp, went on to become very successful. Others didn't, but Peel retained a soft spot for them.

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After his death, at the age of 65, from a heart attack on a trekking holiday in Peru in October 2004, a wooden box was found containing 142 of his most precious seven-inch singles, all set in a metal container for easy removal in case of an emergency.

Along with more famous songs were the works of Anemic Boyfriends and Electro Hippies, as well as Oddie, now better known as the presenter of wildlife programmes such as BBC's Autumnwatch.

In typically relaxed fashion, the Radio 1 and Radio 4 DJ, who lived in a house he called "Peel Acres" in Great Finborough, near Stowmarket, Suffolk, left no instructions about what should be done about his record collection.

Instead, a clause leaving his chattels to his wife simply stated: "I ask her (but without imposing any binding obligation) to give effect to any wishes of mine which may come to her attention as to their disposal."

He left an estate worth £1,825,386, reduced after liabilities to £1,752,633, and also stated in his will that he wished to be buried in the churchyard at Great Finborough – a wish that his family complied with. The bulk of his estate was left to his wife, with £263,000 left in trust to be split between his four children.

The will, however, did not state what he wanted on his gravestone. In 2001, Peel had said that he wanted it engraved with his name and the words "Teenage dreams, so hard to beat" – a lyric from his favourite track, Teenage Kicks, by the Undertones.

The Liverpool-born broadcaster had a radio career spanning more than 40 years and was hugely popular with Radio 1 and Radio 4 listeners.

He was even able to charm the mothers of the more intimidating bands that he championed. One once wrote thanking him for "helping Christopher with his career". Christopher was better known to fans of The Damned as drummer Rat Scabies.